At one moment, he looked the harmless sleeping cat. The next, he disappeared into open space with “feline speed”.
Even as a 17-year-old Malacca High School student, in the national team, the rampant centre-forward slid past man after man, leaving them in a maze looking for the ball.
On waterlogged pitches, Choe, according to some football greats, was as elusive as a mud eel.
He was adored for his attacking flair on rain-sodden pitches, being slippery as an eel in mud with his slick footwork.
Choe was slight in stature, but was a little box of tricks, duping defenders with stepovers, fancy flicks and bicycle kicks, never afraid to challenge in the air.
He attributed his ability to outjump taller defenders to his strong calf muscles, and inspiration from the acrobatics of Chinese opera performers.
Choe passed this week at 85, but few today recall the greatness of this attacking machine.
National and Melaka football legend, V Kalimuthu, said Choe carried the ball with strength and style and “beat fullbacks for fun before creating a chance or scoring himself”.
“His dancing feet and speed of thought were key to his success and added swagger and style to the industrious national side of that era,” he said.
Kalimuthu, a midfielder, played for Melaka from the 60s, with Choe and his brothers – right winger Johnny and centre-back Richard.
During his career with Harimau Malaya from 1958 to 1966, Choe scored 22 goals, often creating a goal out of absolutely nothing.
Choe played alongside national regulars who lit up grounds around the country, and whose penchant for the spectacular won the hearts of fans.
They included Abdul Ghani Minhat, Arthur Koh, Ahmad Nazari, Sexton Lourdes, Chan Tuck Choy, Mok Wai Hong, Rahim Abdullah, Yee Seng Choy, S Govindarajoo, and Ng Boon Bee (also of badminton fame).
Choe helped Malaya win the Merdeka tournament in 1958, 1959 and 1960 (joint champions with South Korea).
Their winning ways continued at the 1961 SEAP Games in Rangoon, where they beat Soviet-trained Burma 2-0 in the final.
A year later, Choe captained Malaya to beat South Vietnam 4-1 for the bronze medal at the Asian Games in Jakarta.
That campaign began with a 15-1 demolition of the Philippines and ended with Malaya becoming the highest goal scoring team with 23 goals.
It was a reflection of the predatory instincts of the strikers, the midfielders who spotted a pass nobody else could see and the defenders who played like they had all the time in the world.
The foreign lure
In 1962, Ghani scored two goals in Malaya’s 4-2 loss to 1960 European Cup runners-up, Eintracht Frankfurt, at the Merdeka Stadium.
Ghani, deadly as an inside right or left, and Choe earned an invite from the visiting club’s manager, Rudolf Gramlich, to visit West Germany.
There, Ghani and Choe were lured to join Koln and Eintracht Frankfurt.
When they later visited the UK, they were courted by Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham and Cardiff City.
Both men rejected the offers as they did not want to miss bringing more glory to Malaya that was fast becoming a dominant force in Asia.
About the same time, there was also interest from Peru for Ghani and forwards, Stanley Gabriel and Govindarajoo, to join that country for a world tour as players from Asia.
Choe quit international football at the age of 26 after the 1966 Asian Games, where Malaysia were winless, to focus on his career as a bank officer.
The eldest son of Choe Soon Lee, a prominent figure in Melaka football and badminton circles during the 1930s, he later coached Melaka, taking players like Wong Kuw Fou to national prominence.
He named one of his two sons, Fahrian, after West Germany’s 1962 World Cup goalkeeper, Wolfgang Fahrian, who made him feel at home during his stay in Frankfurt.
A debt of gratitude
It is not overstating things to say that every footballer who has kicked a ball during that era owes a debt of gratitude to Choe and his teammates.
How many football fans, or for the matter the FA of Malaysia, can honestly say they remember Choe’s big moments?
Big moments are what every footballer wants: to be part of glory and to leave their mark on the days that matter.
Choe’s brilliance during a golden era must be cherished, not allowed to slip through Malaysia’s football history.
On arrival for a Harimau Malaya exhibition at Stadium Hang Tuah in Melaka, Choe reportedly told the host: “Thank you for inviting me. No other people have invited me to come to a place like this, appreciating me like this.”